October 20, 2009

From Royal Purple News

If Linkin Park was a band you grew up listening to, then new band, Dead by Sunrise will continue to hold your interests. Linkin Park's lead singer, Chester Bennington, has gone out on his own to record an independent album, "Out of Ashes." The outcome is an almost five year project that has resulted as Dead by Sunrise.

The new group is made up of many talented performers. Ryan Shuck and Amir Derakh, who were formerly part of the band Orgy, current Julien-K members, Brandon Belsky, Elias Andra and Anthony "FU" Valcic teamed up with Bennington to help create the new sound. This album took music to a new level for the singer. It is about being basic and simple, which is not something he had ever done. "Out of Ashes" might surprise the listener because the album is not just a bunch of hardcore songs as people may be suspecting or just another name for Linkin Park. The album is an entirely new direction for Bennington and is not related to his former band.

Sophomore Eric Huml has mixed feelings about the debut of "Out of Ashes." "I appreciate the new album and hope he keeps creating but I think he should have stayed with Linkin Park, their earlier music was the best," Huml said.

"A lot of the record is dealing with falling in love, finding happiness, spiritual awakening, the rest of the record is the opposite of that," Bennington said in an interview on MySpace video. "It's about going through hard times, separating relationships, going through addictions, not knowing if you are going to survive." One billion albums were shipped on iTunes alone when the album debuted Oct. 13. The album goes through Bennington's struggles over the past few years; his divorce, remarriage, falling into abusing alcohol, experimenting with dangerous drugs and ultimately his realization from those experiences. The album is raw and easy to relate to.

"I'm pretty into the new album, because it's all his own writings and perspectives," freshman Ron Huebner said. "It's a good idea and healthy for a musician to focus on two different aspects and styles of music." If you were a huge fan of Linkin Park, don't worry there is speculation that there will be another album coming out in the next year. As of right now, don't be afraid to experience Bennington's new album, "Out of Ashes," it's so worth it. I give the album 4 stars.

From My Crazy Music Blog

It was only a matter of time before Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington got bored. Sure, Linkin Park released the track 'New Divide' on the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen soundtrack this past summer, but with the band not slated to enter the studio until next year, it wasn't going to be long before he followed in the footsteps of fellow LP cohort Mike Shinoda (Fort Minor) and released a record through a side band. Well, Dead by Sunrise is that side band and Out of Ashes is that new record. Bennington just simply picked up the phone and called some of his friends – Amir Derakh, Ryan Shuck, Brandon Belsky and Elias Andra – of Julien-K, and formerly of Orgy.

Bennington is as damn brilliant as ever fronting Dead by Sunrise, but fans should already expect that. Sure, the argument could be made that bits and pieces of Dead by Sunrise's debut album, Out of Ashes could have very well been used for the next Linkin Park album, but those making those arguments need to look below the surface, starting with the albums dark subject matter. Out of Ashes is a concept record that follows the story of man on a self-destructive path who is trying to recover, a story many believe parallels Bennington's own life and problems with drugs and alcohol (listen to the lyrics of 'Crawl Back In'). Regardless, the album touches on a lot of subjects including intense anger, disconnection, depression and despair.

Beyond the obvious reasons to continuously compare Linkin Park and Dead by Sunrise, Out of Ashes is a record that surely has the strength, and legs, to stand up on its own. There are a couple of pitfalls to keep in mind with this disc however. One, more than likely Dead by Sunrise is merely a side project, which is horrifically unfortunate because there is obvious potential here. And two, it would have been nice to see the band delve a bit deeper into electronics with Out of Ashes. You would think that any band that is mostly Julien-K would take more electronic chances, but it is what it is so to speak. The record doesn't simply fall short based solely on its lack of electronica. Album closer 'Morning After' is as far as they go when it comes to that, and not only does the tracks driving force and pulsating rhythms make it memorable, they make for the track to be one of the records best.

Out of Ashes plays like a proverbial sonic highlight reel, with one excellent work after another, no matter what you're in the mood for, as Out of Ashes houses some of the very best vocals Bennington has ever recorded, Linkin Park or otherwise ('Give Me Your Name'), melody laden, visceral ballads ('Too Late,' 'Let Down') and passionate charges ('Inside of Me,' 'My Suffering').

Out of Ashes is a tremendous first offering from Dead by Sunrise, and it would be just plain criminal is these guys didn't get a second chance to shine for us all.

Grade: A

From Ben's Blog

Hello once again to you out there. As most of you may have guessed, I am a massive Linkin Park fan and so thought I’d drop in and write a very brief summary of Chester Bennington’s new band, Dead by Sunrise and their brand new album, ‘Out of Ashes’, that was released on the 12/10/09.

The first time that I played the album I have to say I wasn’t really that impressed. However, the more times that I play it, the more it grows on me. This album really shows Chester spilling out his emotions as he tackles issues that he has faced during his lifetime such as divorce, alcohol addiction and drug use as well as some more positive things such as finding love again and re marriage. The album is ridden with vocal harmonies that really demonstrate the Linkin Park frontman’s talent. Songs such as first single, ‘Crawl Back In’, demonstrate aggression and gritty vocals that are backed by a powerful rock guitar riff that you will be humming all day after listening to it, whilst the more mellow ‘Give Me Your Name’ creates a calming mood that allows the listener to take a break from the sheer vocal power. Album closer, ‘In The Darkness’, once again demonstrates the vocal talent of Bennington through some of the albums most dark and meaningful lyrics and brings the album to a nicely rounded close.

Overall, this album is nowhere near as good as any of Linkin Park’s back catalogue but what would you expect, there is only one sixth of the multi – platinum award winning formula within Dead by Sunrise, however, overall Chester has done really well and has once again proved that he is one of the worlds greatest modern rock singers.

From 402 Productions

This album was a surprise. Usually, I'm not a big fan of "popular by association" side projects. I'm not saying I'm a big fan of this album, fronted by Chester Bennington of Linkin Park, but this album isn't bad. In fact, it's somewhat good. The single from the album, "Crawl Back In", makes you think this album is going to be Chester's "scream-singing" band. Chester is popular for his wide vocal range and adaptation to different styles of music (as Linkin Park's style has been slightly changing over the past years). Many people who are fans of Bennington have harped that they would love to see what this guy would be like in a proper rock band. Well, I might have to say that Dead by Sunrise seems to have a lot more for Bennington. The style of music, primarily fast paced rock, shows glimpses of musical variety enough to make the album not focused on Bennington's screaming.

The album itself, although consistent in style, becomes worn since the music itself isn't anything new. The single sounds like something from that album U2 did with that song "Vertigo". A good half of the album is this ballad rock thing, reminiscent of a hybrid version of slow 90s ballad rock and slow Linkin Park songs. The other half is this grunge-y sounding rock that kind of makes you feel dirty after listening to it. Maybe in a good way. But mostly in a "is this new Linkin Park? Hmm..." way.

People who would like this album: people who want to hear Chester Bennington in a real band. Let's face it, Linkin Park is as much of a real band as The Monkees were. Sure, The Monkees learned their instruments and made headquarters... but wait a ricky-tick. Didn't Linkin Park say that they were going to make the music they feel like they want to make now? Does that mean they weren't making the music they all wanted to make before? Leading to the idea that this entire six piece band who got big out of no where in the 90s is really just a big production band from Mike Shinoda? Yeah. It kind of sounds familiar... Other people who might be into this are people into fingereleven and other dance-grunge/nasty-rock bands.

Although my love/hate relationship with this album is ongoing, I think because I don't completely hate this album makes this album worthy of the good album shoop. Due to it's familiar ring each song, I can't really say this music is "new" and "breakthrough" so this album won't be getting a nomination for me. Sorry boys.

From San Diego Reader

Out of Ashes is the debut album from Chester Bennington, vocalist of Linkin Park. Fans expecting the music to sound like Linkin Park, however, will be disappointed. There's no rapping, no angst-ridden lyrics screamed by Bennington, and the heavy, rumbling guitar chords have been dismantled.

What Dead by Sunrise does have to offer is Bennington's softer side. Songs such as "Give Me Your Name" and "In the Darkness" are slow, sung, and backed by melodic beats. There are faster songs with Bennington's trademark wail, such as "Inside of Me" and "Condemned," which should satisfy those expecting the metal vibe. It seems with Dead by Sunrise, Bennington is trying to appeal to audiences of hard and soft rock, and he does the job, providing the best of both worlds.